


Airborne Apologies

by katmarajade



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Apologies, Detention, F/M, Fluff, Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-03
Updated: 2014-08-03
Packaged: 2018-02-11 15:31:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2073477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katmarajade/pseuds/katmarajade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mandy was furious that she had to serve detention for the first time ever and it was all Zach's fault!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Airborne Apologies

They planned Saturday detentions in the tower overlooking the courtyard on purpose. Mandy glared out the window at the crowd of her classmates laughing and enjoying themselves in the beautiful, fresh snow.

But Mandy was in detention. _Detention_. Ugh. Even the word made her shudder. Her quill pressed deeply into her parchment leaving a huge ink spot as she recalled why exactly she was being detained and who was responsible.

On Monday afternoon, Zach had asked her to meet him that evening. He had something important to talk to her about and he'd even used the word _please_ , which she could not recall him ever using except for once when he'd purposely been trying to charm her mother and had asked for another of Mrs Brocklehurst's horrendous raisin biscuits. (How he'd choked down two of those without activating his gag reflex, she still didn't know.)

So she'd caved, given into his pleas and his please, his too-damn-charming-for-his-own-good smirk and those blue eyes that did funny things to her tummy—funny, _angry_ things, as she was decidedly furious with him right now!

She'd been punctual, of course. (Several minutes early, actually—you never knew when Peeves would show up and delay you and she always planned accordingly.) Having never before snuck out alone after hours, she had been simultaneously terrified and a little excited at her own daring. It was for a friend. A very cute friend. And that had to trump normal school rules like curfew, didn't it?

A sound in the corridor had caused her to jump, and she'd turned, expecting Zach to appear, and that was when it had all gone to hell.

"Out past curfew? Miss Brocklehurst, I am ashamed of you! Return to your dormitory immediately. Forty points from Ravenclaw and detention this weekend."

Her stricken face had been matched only by Zach's expression, hidden by the shadows, unseen by either Mandy or Professor McGonagall.

She'd refused to speak to Zach all week, despite his determined efforts, and had enlisted her friends Lisa and Padma to help her keep him at bay.

A sharp tap on the window next to her made her look up in surprise. Outside the window, forty feet in the air, was Zach on his Cleansweep. He offered her a jaunty wave and she pulled herself out of her stunned gaping long enough to remember she was angry with him and gave him her best scowl.

He made a strange face—scrunched up, apologetic, sad, chagrined? She was probably reading too much into it. A piece of parchment was pressed up to the window.

> I'm so sorry. It was not supposed to go like that. I forgot that you're always early and I should have known and planned better. I promise to make it up to you!

She sniffed and gave him a withering look, then glanced around to see if Professor Sprout had noticed. However, she was surprised to see the professor engaged in a quiet but lively debate about mandrake care and discipline with Justin Finch-Fletchley. Awfully convenient, she thought, looking calculatingly back at Zach, red-faced from the wind and cold and perhaps a bit of embarrassment.

His blue eyes were lined by icy lashes and she felt her heart melt just a little. He shifted and pressed a new bit of parchment up for her to read.

> I would never purposely hurt you. You are the brightest part of this crazy place and having you as my friend is really important to me. Please tell me we're still friends.  
>  Please?"

She considered herself a strong individual, but anyone who could ignore the agonisingly broken look in Zach's blue eyes was a heartless monster. She nodded hard and he gave a dizzying grin that rearranged every law of physics, sending her stomach soaring and her heart diving.

Zach bit his lip and Mandy nearly whimpered at how adorable he looked. Taking a deep breath he grabbed another piece of parchment from his robe and held it up, blocking his face.

> Next Hogsmeade. You and I. What do you say?

Her belly spun and she looked at him intently, desperate to see whether or not he was sincere. When the parchment lowered and he finally met her gaze, his expression was serious, intent, and slightly anxious.

She offered a tentative smile and felt slightly emboldened when he looked as if he'd been kicked in the stomach. (That was good, right?) When she nodded, his answering grin was brighter than the most powerful _Lumos_ she could ever cast. She scribbled onto her own parchment, holding it up for him to see.

> Yes, I'll go. But you still owe me for this detention!

His answering look was a mix of exasperation, fervent agreement, and disbelief, and it spread a wave of heat through her entire body.

Nodding, he gave her some complicated, incomprehensible series of hand gestures. She had no idea what he'd signed, but she knew deep down that it meant everything was just a little bit better.

The dizzy, dopey, delighted expression on his wind-reddened face as he flew off would stay with her forever.  



End file.
